Circuit-closer for musical instruments



R. CONOVER ANDv L. HULL.

CIRCUIT C-LO SER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26. 1919.

1,390,984. v PatentedSept. 20,1921.

L-g "z m g R. CONOVER AND L. HULL. CIRCUIT CLOSER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 26, 1919.

1,890,984. PatentedSept. 20,1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

V w L 26 6/ Q n L T UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

RALPH oonovERAivn LEQ'HUL or 'rnnnn HAUTE, INDIANA.

Specification of {letters Patent.

" cracurr-cnosna non MnsIoAL insrnunnn'rs.

Patented se t. 20, 1921.

Application filednpril 26, 1919.. Serial No. 292,953.

To all whom it may concern. x

' Be it known that'we, RALPH CoNovnR and LEO HULL,'Cli lZeI1S of the United States of America, and residents 'of Terre Haute, in

the county of Vigo and State of Indiana, 2

as pianos, musical bells, stringed instruments or the like, the said invention con templating, the provision .of an apertured member similar to a mouth organ, the same having novel means whereby circuits are es+ tablished in the drawing or blowing action practised in playing.

I Hereafter in the; specificatlon. the term mouth organ will be used as denotingna musical instrument which this device resembles in principle and that one who is familiar with the methodof playing a mouth organ may, by the same operation, cause circuits to be established whereby mechanism is brought into action for playing music on pianos, bells, stringed instruments and the like. c

A further object of this invention is to provide novel means whereby two notes will be sounded for each aperture of the body just as two notes are sounded on a mouth organ by blowing into or drawing air through a single aperture.

I With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists .in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the body portion of the device showing some-of the wiring; d

Fig. 2 illustrates an underneath plan view thereof;

Fig. 8 illustrates a sectional view;

Fig. 4 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the circuits; V r

Fig. 5 illustrates a view inelevation showing the device applied toa piano; and

Fig. 6 illustrates a view in elevation showing the application of the device for sounding bells. 1

In these drawings 10 denotes the apertured body having a flanged portion 11, the latter of which has an aperture 12 for the passage therethrough of the conductors of electricity 13.

While different means may be utilized for effecting contact of the vibrating tongues,

the invention may be well carried into praotice by utilizing the instrumentalities illustrated in the drawing, and it is there shown that each aperture 1 1 of the body may have an adjustable bushing or tube 15 capable of conducting electricity, said tube preferably projecting slightly beyond the back of. the body to constitute a contact for the tongue 16 which vibrates under the impulses of the breath whether blown or drawn by the operator. Each tongue has one end on a block 1 17 carried by the extension of the body and a conductor of electricity18 is connected to the said tongues by a fastening 19 which may be in the nature of a binding post orother fastening device. The conductor 13 is electrically connected to the tube or bushing '15 and each of said conductors leads to an electromagnet 20, whereas the conductor 18 is connected with a conductor 21 leading to a battery and each electromagnet is likewise connected by a conductor 22 with a wire 23 leading to the battery 24 and'it is to the battery 24L that the conductor 21 is likewise connected.

Tongue 16 vibrates with relation to the body of the device which also has an electrical contact or post 25 cooperating with the tongue 16, the tongue 16 vibrating with relation thereto, there being one of such posts or contacts 25 for each of the tongues, so that the tongues vibrate between the contacts 25 and thetubes or bushings 15. Normally each of said tongues stands in the space between the last mentioned members and contacts with one or the other according as to whether the operator blows through an aperture to force the tongues into engagement with the contacts 25 or whether he draws through the aperture to pull the said tongues into engagement with the tubes 1.5. Each post or contact 25 has a conductor 26 which likewise leads to a magnet such as 20 and such magnet in turn is electrically connected to the battery so that circuit is established by the tongue if it is in engagement with either the contact 25 or the tube 15.

Having now described the method of energizing one or more of the electromagnets through the impulses imparted to the tongues 16, it is apparent that armatures 27 may be positioned to be influenced or oscillated by the action of the electromagnets, and in Fig. 5, there is illustrated a means by which a piano key 28 may be pulled down by the magnets 29 if such magnet is energized through the medium of the device heretofore described. In making it possible to utilize the magnetism of the electromagnet 29 the under surface of the key 28 has a plate 30 attached to it and when the electromagnet is energized the plate will be pulled toward the electromagnet and the note on the piano represented by the key will be struck through the actuation of the hammer of the piano. As the construction of the piano movement is immaterial, it is not shown in detail, but the conventional showing supplied will suifice to enable those skilled in the art to understand the application of the device to such keyed instruments.

In Fig. 6, the electromagnet 31 is shown which is to be energized by the system shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing and the armature 32 which is mounted on the base 83 so as to oscillate with respect to the core of the magnet may have on its upper end a hammer 33 which will strike the hell 3; and if a series of such bells of proper tone are assembled, it is obvious that by the selective method of blowing or drawing air through one or more of the apertures, the bells to be sounded may be selected and the instrumentalities necessary for their sounding may be actuated.

We claim In a circuit closer for musical instruments, a body having air controlled apertures therein, bushings in said apertures projecting beyond the surface of the body, the said bushings being conductors of electricity, a contact post secured to the body adjacent to each bushing and having an inturned end overlying the bushing, a vibratory tongue capable of conducting electricity, means for anchoring one end of the tongue tothe body and having the free end interposed between the bushing and the end of the contact normally out of engagement with either the bushing or the contact, a conductor of electricity electrically connected to the contact, a conductor of electricity-connecting the means of anchorage of the tongues, and-means for establishing a circuit through thecircuit closer to a source of electricity and through an element for utilizing the pulsations of the circuit.

RALPH ooNovER. LEO HULL. I 

